Why me?
by CrystalArcher
Summary: Jareth is doing a routine once-over of the Labyrinth looking for vandals, when he finds something else…a lost little girl. Taking her in out of pity, he thinks it will short term arrangement but little does he know...JXS please R
1. Lost and lonely

Summery in full: Jareth is doing a routine once-over of the Labyrinth looking for vandals, when he finds something else…a lost little girl. Taking her in out of pity, he thinks it will short term arrangement, that is until he forms a strong parental bond toward her. But when she flees to the Aboveground after a fight with him and befriends Sarah, Jareth is handed the short end of the straw as secrets he has kept from her are quickly revealed...then she runs away from Jareth again and into the iron grip of danger. This course of events ultimately leads to Sarah and Jareth having to team up to save the wayward teen, and perhaps find themselves along the way. JarethxSarah

Authors Note: See I can be somewhat original…at least I think this is original, I haven't seen anything quite like this before…whatever.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything having to do with the Labyrinth, as for this particular Elfin Kingdom and Astra, mine if you would like to use them all you need do is ask and your wish shall be granted.

Sun shone through the window, seeming to illuminate the alabaster blond hair crowning the Goblin King's head, rousing him form a peaceful night's sleep he would have rather been left to further enjoy. Tiredly, he looked up and out of the window by his bed, blinking back the sleep in his eyes. Jareth groaned inwardly, this was the ideal type of morning to just fall back to sleep or perhaps relaxed and read a book; he could do nether. There had been a mass case of vandalism as of late and he had had to go out every morning on patrol to assess the damage and try to pinpoint the whereabouts of the vandals, for some reason they were shielded from his locater crystals. He suspected it was a small group of Pixies that had recently migrated into the aria.

"Bloody Pixie bastards." He grumbled, pushing himself up with one arm. Sighing, he stretched sore muscles and dressed, finishing off the attire with his crescent shaped pendant, the symbol of his power and authority.

Not bothering to get breakfast, or even leave his room for that matter, he stepped up onto the window ledge and let himself fall, shifting into an owl well before he was in any danger. Gliding over his kingdom, he felt a surge of pride as well as responsibility, before this vandalism incident he had never taken the time to really see what he spent his days ruling over. The land was beautiful, born from the imaginations of young dreamers, and its inhabitants, though fun to mentally torture had their good points and he was responsible for all of them, they looked to him for guidance and protection; it was a heavy burden he was proud to hold. It was during these flights that he remembered why he had become the Goblin King in the first place…and didn't regret it.

It wasn't long before he witnessed the destruction the mischievous little rats had caused. Ancient sculptures, that had stood for as long as the Labyrinth had been in existents, had been reduced to rubble, walls had been felled and the inhabitants of the Labyrinth itself were in a panic.

Landing, returning to his Fae form, he attempted to talk to the frightened masses of tiny gobbling who were running in circles around a three yard long section of thoroughly destroyed path, they had come out of there burrows under the walkway so they could see what all the noise and destruction was about. Finally giving up on a friendly approach, Jareth roughly grabbed a goblin running past him and demanded answers. The little goblin instantly objected to being man handled.

"Hay.Whatdoyouthinkyouaredoing?Whatdid–

"Shut up." Jareth replied shortly, annoyed that the goblins fast way of speech, melded with all the other voices in the narrow path, was already giving him a headache. _"This is going to be a long morning…"_ he thought, grinding his teeth.

"Now can you tell me what happened?" he continued, trying to sound calm but coming across as rather annoyed.

"Whatdoyoumean?WhatwouldIknow?Yourthekingyoushouldknowwhat'sgoingonyoushouldbetellingme –

"Enough!" he sighed irritably, pinched the bridge of his nose. His booming voice reverberating off the walls had silenced the little creatures for the instant and he was relishing in the quit…then it started up again. Taking a deep breath to control his growing anger, he continued. "Do you know of anyone who does?"

"Nobodyknowsweallstayinourburrowswecomeoutwhenwehearthesmashingandthecrashingthenyoucome –

"I get it, I get it…you don't know who's doing this or what's going on. Can you at least keep an eye out for whoever is causing this?"

"Youbetyourmajestyyoucancountonusand – whaa!" before the little goblin could finish, Jareth had had more than enough, dropping the goblin, now rather annoyed at being interrupted at every attempt at speech, he took off in his owl form for other parts of the Labyrinth, looking for answers. Instead he found memories.

Flying over first level of the Labyrinth, he remembered a certain ebony haired girl, of no more than fifteen, fuming at not being able to figure out the seemingly endless path. He mentally smiled at the image of her banging her fists on the walls and cursing, she had come so far, grown so much in that short thirteen hours, become so quick…and yet she had never truly understood what he was trying to do for her, what he was trying to tell her. Yes he had taken her brother, when she asked it, yes he had robbed her of her time, when she expected him to pull some underhanded trick, and yes he had tried to seduce her in a drug induced dream, when she had summoned it. Why hadn't she understood? He was trying to show her that he would do anything for her, anything she asked of him would be done no matter at what cost.

He sighed as the all too familiar sorrow and confusion took hold of him once more…was there anything he could do to win her back? He thought dejectedly…or was he destined for an eternity of aloneness, never again knowing what it felt like to be truly cared for…to be loved? All the questions, all the answers, it frustrated him to the point where he took a nose dive, heading for the unforgiving rocks below, hoping the adrenalin rush would overtake his emotions. Again he found something he had not expected.

Spreading his wings to slow the fall, he eventually came to hover just above a little blue dot. He looked at it curiously, his owl eyes straining to decipher what the thing was. Far too big to be a fairy, not the right shape for a goblin and Pixies were of earth tones, not blue. He went closer; careful should the thing be more dangerous then it seemed, then the thing looked up, directly at him, even from nearly two hundred feet in the air, there could be no mistaking what the 'thing' was. Jareth nearly fell from the sky in shock; he was staring into the violet eyes of a young girl, judging by the peculiar point of her ears and her unusual hair color, an elfin girl. He was swamped with confusion, there hadn't been a whish-away since Sarah had run his labyrinth, close to a year ago and the Undergrounders never whished away their children, they were far too rare and precious to their parents to do that; besides, rarely did his goblins act without his knowledge, chances were that he would know if this girl were in fact a wish-away. That still posed the question, though, how did she get there? That's when he realized where they were; she was nearly half way to the castle and she had been going at a steady pace before she caught sight of him, although he was increasingly curious as to why she was there in the first place he wanted to see just how far this little girl could go. A squeal broke him of his thoughts and he looked down to see that, upon seeing him, the girl had sprinted off, nearly out of sight, still going in the right direction.

Still having work to do, Jareth decided that he could leave the girl for a time and look in on her progress every now and again. He flew off to the hedge maze, the Wiseman there would be of little help but his hat seemed to know what was going on, if you asked the right question of course and keep the Wiseman quiet.


	2. Ogres Firey and Elves…Oh My

YAY I'm BACK!!!!!

Note: this is going to be a long one, please just bear with me.

Disclaimer: Still don't own the Labyrinth…but my secret agent is about to be accepted within the ranks of the Goblin castle, so that could change…Awww who am I kidding?

=_=P.S I'm sorry for the first chapter and for the wait…I really wasn't ready to post this yet but….I was really outa it the other day (other day what am I saying?! Um…other month, year….when did I post this thing anyway?) and I sorta spaced ever putting it up…that will account for the really long delay to this…so yeah anyway I hope this chapter will be a little better, it is a long one and I'm hoping to make it more interesting that the first chapter…anyway here we go please review.

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Gliding impatiently in several tight circles, Jareth barely managed to keep his temper in check. He had gone to the Wiseman and found him asleep – not a big surprise but a welcome one

in the least – and had interrogated his hat as to what was going on in the Labyrinth and who was committing the crimes. Working vastly against the Goblin King's short temper, his only

answer was a high pitched laugh that sent his slight headache back into a migraine and woke the Wiseman who, immediately thereafter, proceeded to give him a long winded definition

of 'committing' and 'crime'. Several times Jareth had tried to slip away, even threaten his way out but the elderly Goblin (dense as ever) would scold him for being impolite and continue

with his long explanations.

With a feeling somewhere between annoyance and pity, the young king realized the Wiseman didn't even recognize him, thus any of his usual threats would hold no meaning to the

ancient being; aside from that, the two had been friends ever since Jareth had been a young boy. In fact it had been the Wiseman himself who had schooled Jareth in the ways of the

land and how to go about being its king, despite the fact his heart was darker than that of most light born Fae; he knew he could never carry out his threats on the poor old Goblin. So he

just waited 'patiently' for the goblin to finish, his anger growing with each passing sentence, and every smirk he received from that oh so wonderful talking hat.

Finally after what had seemed an eternity the Goblin ran out of things to say about 'committed' and 'crime' and fell back into a peaceful sleep. Anger subsiding, Jareth began to make his

quiet leave…then the hat had demanded payment for their services.

Jareth froze in mid step, shocked etched on his face. He was amazed at the disrespect, the utter _gall_ that worthless hat showed to him, the Goblin King. It had taken every ounce of will

power stored within his being not to kill them both right then and there.

"But you've told me nothing of what I need to know." he bit out through gritted teeth. Knowing full well the old friendship between the king and the Wiseman was protection in the

greatest, the hat responded.

"There is somth'in somewhere in the Labyrinth that is destroying stuff." After that he had the notion to look dumb and proud of his statement and give his king an over kind smile. Jareth

grew stiff and again he found himself entertaining thoughts of strangling the hat right there. He fought quietly with the hat (he found it somewhat odd that it didn't seem to have a proper

name, not that he cared too much but he hadn't realized it before) for some minutes before, in a last desperate attempt at freedom, he begrudgingly conjured a crystal, magiced it into

the shape of a bracelet and dropped it into the box. He took off then, the high-pitched cackling of the hat following him, to fly off his anger. That is was brought him here, flying in tight

circles, diving in a predatory fashion at absolutely nothing at all, and finally heading off at high speed for another part of the Labyrinth.

Jareth was greatly passed annoyed, more than a little angry and far passed feeling that his whole 'mission' was hopeless. Why should he even care? It's not like he was directly affected,

it's not like helived _in_ the Labyrinth…yet…he was still responsible…he had to do _something_, exactly what 'something' that was he wasn't quite sure.

He flew on, sun glinting off his golden wings, glowing in his strange eyes, it was getting hot…too hot for his liking, he would soon call it quits for the day and go back to the castle…empty-

handed again. Suddenly a thought invaded his mind. _**What of the girl?**_ He had all but forgotten the little elf he had seen earlier that morning…what had become of her? It had been some

good hours since he had spotted her...she wasn't supposed to be in the Labyrinth, she wasn't a runner, therefore his magic wouldn't protect her as it normally would, the Labyrinth would

consider her an invader, a potential threat…with those circumstances hours in the Labyrinth could very well be deadly. _**Damn! I had meant to look in on her…I hope nothing's **_

_**happened to the little twit….**_ His concern for the girl surprised him at first, and then he remembered that she was no ordinary runner. Honestly he could care less for those who wished

away their children, their siblings, (with the exception of Sarah of course) although, ironically enough, they were the only ones protected by his power. He hoped they all found

themselves in hard and frightening situations, it would teach them a good lesson…but this girl…she was not a true runner nor was she a wish-away, as far as he could tell she was just a

young, innocent girl who was running away from something, from what he didn't know or truly care…but as long as she was in _his_ kingdom, _his_ Labyrinth, nothing would happen to her.

He had sworn to himself years ago no child would be harmed within the Labyrinth walls…not again….

With renewed initiative the owl shaped king glided off in search for the little blue haired elf, all the while wondering why he was always the one to be burdened with such annoying tasks.

Two hours later found Jareth hot, tired, and pissed off beyond all reason. He was truly beginning to think his search was hopeless. He had flown the whole of the Labyrinth twice and

hadn't even caught a glimpse of the little elfin girl. _**What could have happened to her? I haven't even spotted her in my crystals…**_. Being a king was a hard job in and of itself, being

a responsible one was even harder, Jareth was beginning to regret ever letting that little girl run off, if something happened to her he would be to blame. Politically that would be his

downfall, he had gained a name for himself among the other kingdoms (a high feat when one is king of the goblins) and this would be all it would take to destroy his reputation and send

him into a war with one elfin kingdom or another…that wasn't the greatest of his worries though. _**If I have to witness that again…**_ he cut off that thought, he wasn't sure what he would

do...but he knew his mental state would be irreversibly altered…he still hadn't recovered from his first trauma and that had been over five hundred years prior to present. He went on, he 

_had _to go on. For the sake of his name, for the sake of his kingdom, for the sake of the girl, he had to go on searching.

With every flap of his heavy wings, heat pored through his body, how was it possible for it to be this hot? Did it always get this hot? How the heck did his subjects deal with this heat? His

vision was beginning to swim and fatigue was overwhelming him, the heat was very near to unbearable and Jareth longed for the cool confines of his castle…he was not one to deal with

heat well, he liked the darkness, the dampness, the cold of the night…much like his owl form would lead one to believe. In this sweltering heat he was quickly losing his will to continue

the search. _**This heat…it can't be normal…I've never known it to get this hot…even the Goblins can't seem to take it. **_He noted, seeing several of his subjects passed out from

what appeared to be heat stroke…it took a lot to overheat a goblin…something wasn't right. Without warning a gust of hot, dry wind hit him head on, sending his core temperature far

higher than he could stand and knocking him off his balanced glide. Jareth began to fall, the combination of heat, fatigue and something else he couldn't place keeping him from righting

himself in time. The goblin king fell near half a mile to the placidly unforgiving Labyrinth below.

_The girl ran through the Labyrinth faster than he could comprehend, it was as if she knew every turn, every trap…it was as if the Labyrinth itself was guiding her…but to what? He resigned himself _

_to follow her; to see what it was she was searching for this time around. All too soon he realized where she was leading him…and he knew what was waiting for them there. She didn't see it, didn't _

_see that she was heading strait toward her own death. He wanted to call to her, he wanted to warn her, he wanted to save her he truly did. The creature was not meant to be in his Labyrinth, it _

_was not meant to exist…it was his duty to destroy the thing but…he had put it off…he had neglected his role as king…this monster was too powerful now for even him…and this poor innocent girl _

_was about to pay for it. _

"_No wait!" finally his frantic words came to him but it was no use, the girl was far past any help he could give. She turned. She smiled, sad as it was, it gave him comfort to see it. Her knowing _

_violet eyes stared at him, past him, through him, she saw into his dark soul and knew that one day he would become whole again…that one day he would be good…and that was enough for her. _

_Knowing that, she could die happy. Jareth watched in awed horror as the girl, still smiling, never once shedding a single tear, was ripped from his eternal life forever. It happened so fast she could _

_never have felt it; she was dead before she even hit the ground. Fresh, shining, blood pored off her, staining her silver blond hair, hiding her violet eyes, turning her white spring dress into a _

_sopping red gown. And then, carnage and all, she was gone. Devoured by that monster that was now coming to do the same to Jareth…and he welcomed it. All his life Jareth had tried to hate _

_everybody he met, simply because he didn't want to deal with them…but that girl, that child, she was different. She had always been able to see past his hard outer core, she saw through his dark _

_heart and found the pain there, the pain that was tainting the whole of his being. She had nurtured that pain into something far away and forgotten, she had given him something real to live for, a _

_reason to try to change himself, to try and be better…and now, because of him…she was dead. The moment he had seen that tendril of shadow rip through her body, seen her eyes go wide for a _

_second before she fell forward to the ground, Jareth had ceased to care one bit about anything. The pain came back in full force, his cold outer layer was back in place, and his heart was forever _

_more shut to the world. Still despite all this protection…when the monster was just about to take him, to rip him apart like it had the girl…something happened…and for the first time in his life, _

_Jareth began to cry; for the girl, for his soul, for the boy he had been once long before he had ever become the Goblin King. For the first time in his life, Jareth showed true sorrow and compassion _

_for being other than himself. For the first time in his life, Jareth wished that he could have been the sacrifice, rather than put the burden on that child._

_In that instant, as if cued by his tears, light, blinding and pure, erupted from the darkness trying to kill him, shrouded him in a comforting last embrace, and vanished just as abruptly as it had _

_appeared. The creature's scream of agony hung on the wind as it's last shreds disappeared…it had been destroyed, banished forever by a power greater than any Jareth would ever know. That little _

_girl had saved his life. Cold as ever, face impassive, Jareth stood there and stared at the spot where the monster had been, where the girl had died, where her pure energy had destroyed the _

_creature from within, looking at him one may have though he was merely ridged from anger, that he was breathing deeply in an attempt to refrain from killing something…but when one saw the _

_single tear trail down from his blue eye…it would become clear he was grieving the loss of someone very close to him…he was grieving the loss of a sister. _

His eyes were closed but he was conscious, though he truly didn't wish to be. He hadn't had that nightmare for a very long time…he had almost gotten to the point where he could

convince himself that it had never really happened…well that little coping plan was done for. Trying to get his mind on something else, Jareth attempted to remember how he came to be

where he was…thinking of it…where was he? _"Let's see…I __**was**__ flying over my Labyrinth…I'm no longer in my owl form though…Oh shit I fell didn't I?" _shame and embarrassment took hold of

him a second before the heat did…it was _still_ ridiculously hot. Putting a hand over his face, sighing in annoyance and fatigue, he prepared to push himself up and assess the damage. His

hand touched something thick and wet. Surprisingly enough Jareth's first thought was 'where the heck have my gloves gone' rather than 'oh _fantastic_ I've cracked my head open' finally

though he came to the more pressing matter and began to wonder if he was slowly bleeding to death somewhere in his Labyrinth. _"Just lovely…I knew I should have bloody well stayed out _

_of this."_ He opened his eyes, expecting to be blinded by thick red blood; instead he was blinded by a bright sun and green algae.

He sat up much faster than he should have, pain shot through his back and arm, his head throbbed, his sight was taken by numerous twinkles of light, and he scared whoever had been

bending over him. A gasp and a squeal alerted him to the presents of someone who was now taking shelter behind the old fountain Jareth had fallen against. Blinking hard to regain

sight, waiting to make sure nothing was broken, Jareth had time to get a feel for his bearings…this was by far turning into the worst day he had had in the last three centuries. He had

landed in a small alcove; lush willow trees still bloomed with light colored flowers, their branches hanging low and thick over the circular wall and benches, grass and wild flowers grew

thick all around him, and the marble fountain, green as it was with algae and moss, sent clear streams of water flowing around it, making the light dance off the trees and walls…it was a

beautiful sight that Jareth had never wanted to see again. Getting painfully to his feet, he tried to ignore the dirty brown stains on the bench and fountain, tried to ignore the cave of

growth that had housed an unspeakable evil, tried to forget that this beautiful clearing had been the scene of his nightmare. He could see the elf's blue hair on the other side of a bench

across the way, she was looking at him like he had crawled out from under a rock, her violet eyes painfully familiar and accusing. Jareth threw her a side long and curious look over his

shoulder before he turned to smirk at her; the affect was rather ruined by his pained yell as his left knee gave out. There he was; the great Goblin King, Ruler over the Labyrinth,

overheated, battered from a fall, wincing in pain, and kneeling to a girl who could not have been over eight years old.

"It's not broken…but its sprained really bad…you should stay off of it." her voice was musical and clear and it wavered as she spoke but only a bit.

The Goblin King looked up in surprise, the elf seemed to know what she was talking about…she was too young to know what she was talking about...or at least she should have been.

Her face and eyes still said she hated Jareth if for nothing more than being alive, but her voice quavered and she was obviously very frightened.

Abandoning the 'Goblin King' approach he had been going for, Jareth smiled kindly at her and tried to stand once again.

"Is that so? Well is seems you aren't familiar with goblin healing." He stood strait and proud, crossing his arms over his chest before using his previously injured left foot, to vault off the

wall of the fountain and land lightly in front of the girl. "Always expect the unexpected in this place, girl." This time he did smirk. He raised an eye brow at her, waiting to see how she

would react to this new situation. In the moments that followed Jareth learned that he should really start taking his own advice. Faster than he thought possible, the elf rolled under the

bench separating them, jabbed a small and very sharp arrow head into his knee, and fled the alcove by way of the cavern Jareth had been trying his best to ignore…it was the first time

he had ever entertained thoughts of severely harming a kid, it was also the first time he managed to get through half a dictionary of elfin curses in thirty seconds flat.

"Stay away from me!" the small voice echoed from deep within the dark covered path. Gritting his teeth to keep from shouting some tempting threats, Jareth pulled the arrow out of his

leg and cursed the luck he was having that day. He pinched the bridge of his nose, he really didn't want to go in there, he really didn't want to know where that monster that had killed

his sister had come from…he really didn't think it was a safe place for little girl to be. Begrudgingly he followed her into the shadows.

"I can't believe this! Pitch black and _still_ hotter than ever…this is no act of nature…could it be the Fireys?" His eyes narrowed; there was a dangerous glint in them at this new thought.

"Miserable bastards! I'll kill the lot of them if it is." He grumbled into the shadows.

The cave was dark, it was humid, it was crawling with vines and eye lichen, Jareth hated it immensely. He was hot, hurt, mentally drained, physically tired and emotionally a wreck. At this

point Jareth decided that it would have been a _much _better plan to just stay in bed.

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A/U: Again sorry for the over long wait for this and for Shadows…I'll get to that eventually, I WILL finish everything I have started….just not in a very timely manner (luckily school is out for me FOREVER!!!! *unless I take some odds and ends classes that is* so updates will hopefully not be _years_ apart.) I'm still trying to figure out how to go on with this and with Shadows, my muse seems to have taken a leave of absence and has not returned…jackass muse. So anyway any suggestions are welcome via review, e-mail, PM anything really. So yeah um review please and tell me how this chap. worked out.


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